Breakaway clutches are interposed between a robot and an attached end-of-arm tooling device. The purpose of the breakaway clutch is to provide protection to the robot if excessive loading or stress is placed on the end-of-arm tooling device. Excessive loading on the attached end-of-arm tooling device can be the result of a malfunction of the robot, the introduction of an improper foreign object, or a programming error. If excessive loading is experienced, the breakaway clutch will immediately shut down the robot to avoid damage to the robot, equipment or tooling.
It is an object of this invention to provide in a small compact breakaway clutch a means to detect displacement in the three axis directions. It is also an object of this invention to sense rotational displacement.